MDP’s internal feud deepens; pro-Nasheed MPs threaten departure

Some MDP members supporting parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed have spoken about leaving the party as they are not satisfied with the government's introduction of a bill in parliament against the policies proposed by MDP in the upcoming presidential elections.

The members expressed their displeasure with the party and the government over the proposed amendment to the Police Services Act, which was debated in Wednesday’s session. The bill, introduced by MDP's Hithadhoo North MP Mohamed Aslam, states:

After the party's presidential primaries, the contest within the party has intensified. Members supporting nasheed, who lost the primaries, have been criticising the government and the party in parliament. However, this is the first time that the MLAs have spoken about quitting the party as they are not happy with the government.

During a debate on the amendments to the Police Act, the lawmakers supporting Nasheed said that they were not necessary to amend the law. The members believe that these are amendments proposed by the government to "give jobs to people" ahead of the presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Rasheed of Maafannu Central constituency said that there is no "standard" of MDP in the bill. He said the party does not see the justice and integrity shown by the party's logo. Therefore, he said he would like to discuss the issue of quitting the party with Nasheed. 

"Once it gets back to that standard, I would like to discuss it seriously with the president so that I can re-enter the party. Then I'll stay far away. Fikuregge Dhirun is not something that needs to be signed," said Ibrahim Rasheed, who has already been taken action on for violating the party's whipline.

Along with him, Villufushi MP Hassan Afeef also expressed his displeasure with the government.

"... I don't think the bill that has been introduced today is an amendment that needs to be brought in immediately," Afeef said.

He said since it was a bill moved by the government, he would not vote against the bill even if the party issued a whipline to accept it. Afeef said he was working for the welfare of the people. That's why any action for not voting as per the whipline is “irrelevant", he said.

"I dont care what action they take. It would be better for me to be removed from this parliamentary group," Afeef said.

Like him, Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla also spoke about the need to violate the whipline issued by MDP PG as it cannot support the amendment. 

"When we entered here, our manifesto to the people when we contested the elections also mentioned reforming the institution of the police office in a certain way. We have made a law in accordance with those words one day, but it is difficult to govern at this time, so we amended the law three years later, and then we didn't vote for it, honourable president, that's not a violation of a whipline," Eva said.

She said she would always stick to the party's values.

Since Nasheed's defeat in the January primaries, lawmakers supporting him have been pushing resolutions in parliament over the government's inability to implement its policies. The resolutions proposed so far are as follows: